Perkins v. Weibel
| Decision Date | 12 April 1945 |
| Citation | 42 A.2d 360,132 Conn. 50 |
| Court | Connecticut Supreme Court |
| Parties | PERKINS v. WEIBEL et al. |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Appeal from Court of Common Pleas, New Havan County; Wall, Judge.
Action by Hugh D. Perkins against Marie Weibel and another to recover for personal injuries alleged to have been caused by negligence of defendants and by nuisance maintained by named defendant. Judgment for plaintiff, and named defendant appeals.
No error.
Joseph B. Morse, of New Haven, for appellant.
Charles Henchel, of New Haven, for appellee.
Before MALTBIE, C. J., and BROWN, JENNINGS, ELLS, and DICKENSON, JJ.
The plaintiff fell on a sidewalk in front of a store owned by the named defendant and occupied by Jacob Rosenbaum as a restaurant. The plaintiff's claim was that his fall and ensuing injuries were caused by the conduct of both landlord and tenant in allowing grease to seep from the front of the building and accumulate on the public walk. He charged both with negligence, and the landlord with maintenance of a nuisance. The trial court found the issues for the plaintiff against both parties. The defendant landlord appeals from that judgment, assigning error in the finding and in the judgment thereon.
In their briefs both parties state, in substance, the issue to be whether or not the defendant, as owner of the premises occupied by Rosenbaum, a tenant from month-to-month, is responsible to the plaintiff for the existence of the greasy condition on the walk. The plaintiff claims that the grease had seeped through cracks in the outer wall of the building which the defendant should have repaired. The defendant claims that the plaintiff fell on greasy water swept out of the door by the tenant shortly before the fall. There was conflicting evidence as to the manner in which the greasy substance got upon the sidewalk, and the trial court's finding that it had seeped through openings in the woodwork of the front of the building and accumulated on the walk may not be disturbed. The defendant further assigns error in a finding that the relationship of landlord and tenant had existed for a long period of time. There was no specific evidence as to just how long this had lasted, but there was testimony from which the trial court reasonably could have found that it had existed at lease one year and that the tenant had given several monthly rent checks to the defendant's agent during that time.
With such corrections as we make in the finding, the facts necessary for the grounds upon which we base our decision are as follows: A year or more before the date of the plaintiff's injury, the named defendant leased her store to Rosenbaum by parol on a month-to-month tenancy. Rosenbaum installed a grill near a front window and grease from this seeped cracks in the front of the building and ran across the public sidewalk, forming a coating that existed substantially from the time of his first occupancy. The condition constituted a nuisance and caused the plaintiff's fall and injuries.
While an abutting owner ordinarily is under no duty to keep the sidewalk in front of his property in a reasonably safe condition for public travel, he is liable in damages for a nuisance maintained by him upon it. Hanlon v. Waterbury, 108...
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Arawana Mills Co. v. United Technologies Corp.
...tenants can be held liable for injuries to third-parties caused by nuisance on leased property, see id., citing Perkins v. Weibel, 132 Conn. 50, 52, 42 A.2d 360 (1945). For the reasons stated, the motion to dismiss the Sixth and Seventh Counts of the Complaint is 4. The Eighth Count of the ......
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Starr v. Commissioner of Environmental Protection
...in a reasonably safe condition for public travel, though he may be liable for maintaining a nuisance thereon"); Perkins v. Weibel, 132 Conn. 50, 51, 42 A.2d 360 (1945) (plaintiff, who fell on a sidewalk due to a greasy condition thereon, charged the landowner with "maintenance of a nuisance......
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Pollard v. City of Bridgeport
...gasoline from pump to spill onto sidewalk); Gambardella v. Kaoud , supra, 38 Conn. App. at 359, 660 A.2d 877, citing Perkins v. Weibel , 132 Conn. 50, 52, 42 A.2d 360 (1945) (public nuisance created by grease emanating from premises onto sidewalk). Indeed, the law of Connecticut holds that ......
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State v. Tippetts-Abbett-McCarthy-Stratton
...Co., supra; Beckwith v. Stratford, supra; property ownership is not a prerequisite to nuisance liability. See, e.g., Perkins v. Weibel, 132 Conn. 50, 52, 42 A.2d 360 (1945) (tenant may be liable for injuries caused by nuisance on leased property); see generally VI-A American Law of Property......